CHAP. XIII.] THE AUSTRALIAN REGION. 439 



peculiar types being found only here. The soutliern portion is 

 somewhat poorer, and has very few peculiar forms ; and Tasmania 

 being isolated is poorer still, yet its zoology has much resem- 

 blance to that of Victoria, from which country it has evidently 

 not been very long separated. The north, as far as yet known, is 

 characterised by hardly any peculiar forms, but by the occurrence 

 of a number of Papuan types, which have evidently been derived 

 from New Guinea. 



Ilammalia. — The Australian sub-region contains about 160 

 species of ^lammalia, of which 3 are IMonotremata, 102 ]\Iarsu- 

 pials, 23 Chiroptera, 1 Carnivora (the native dog, probably not 

 indigenous), and 31 Muridae. The north is characterised Ijy a 

 species of the Austro-lNIalayan genus Cuscus. Phascolanios (the 

 koala, or native bear) is found only in the eastern districts ; 

 Phascolomys (the w^ombat) in the south-east and Tasmania ; 

 Pctaurista (a peculiar form of flying opossum) in the east. Thy- 

 lacAiius (the zebra-wolf), and Sarcophihcs (the "native devil"), 

 t^\'o carnivorous marsupials, are confined to Tasmania. West 

 Australia, the most isolated and peculiar region botanically, 

 alone possesses the curious little honey-eating Tarsvpes, and the 

 Peragalea, or native raljbit. The remarkable Myrmccobius, a 

 small ant-eating marsupial, is found in the west and south ; 

 and Onydiogalea, a genus of kangaroos, in West and Central 

 Australia. All the other genera have a wider distribution, as 

 will be seen by a reference to the list at the end of this 

 chapter. 



Plate XI. A Scene in Tasmania, with Characteristic Mammalia. 

 — As some of the most remarkable Mammalia of the Australian 

 region are now found only in Tasmania, we have chosen this 

 island for the scene of our first illustration of the fauna of the 

 Australian sub-region. The pair of large striped animals are 

 zebra- wolves {Thylacimis cynocephalus), the largest and most de- 

 structive of the carnivorous marsupials. These creatures used to 

 be tolerably plentiful in Tasmania, where they are alone found. 

 They are also called "native tigers," or " native hyfcnas;" and being 

 destructive to sheep, they have been destroyed by the fiu-mcrs 

 and will doubtles.s soon l)C exterminated. In the foreground on 



